


Here's to Winning

by spencerreld (plantmajor)



Series: cm drabbles [2]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Other, it's pretty short, my poor kids have gone through too much, possible two parter??, tag to aftermath (2x5)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 19:45:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11424894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantmajor/pseuds/spencerreld
Summary: Elle didn't need to let him know that you never win. Not yet.





	Here's to Winning

She opens the door and isn't surprised to see Spencer in his brown tie and dress shirt, tapping his foot nervously. "Hi." He says, and surprised, Elle mutters a hello in return.

"You okay?" He continues, looking over her shoulder and into her bedroom. All of a sudden, she feels defensive and moves a little more to the left, trying to block his view of the motel room. She knows that it's no use, Spencer is taller, but she tries anyway.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Elle responds, fighting back the urge to roll her eyes. Spencer waits for a moment before pushing past her and pacing around in her room. "No, really. Come  _right_ in."

His arms are crossed over his chest and Elle gets the feeling that he's nervous— scared, even. After she grabs the scotch bottle on the mini fridge and he stops his pacing and stares at her, it only takes her a moment to figure out why. "What, you gonna check my ID?" She says, forcefully letting out a joke and then realizing why he seems so nervous.

He's scared of  _her._ Out of all the things and people he could be scared of, it's her. He's scared of how she'd going to react to him being there and talking to her. 

"I thought maybe.." He trails off and waits a few seconds before continuing. "You might wanna talk."

"Don't go all profiler on me." Elle says, her eyes narrowing 

"Elle, you got shot in your own home, and then you came back to the BAU like nothing even happened, thinking you might want to talk isn't profiling." Spencer says. Small, delicate Spencer with his horn-rimmed glasses and wide eyes, ready to go out and conquer the world with his big brain. "It's pysch 101."

Elle shoots him a look, and his eyes widen even more, biting his lip in a subtle pout. "Please?" 

She sighs, taking a swig from her glass before leaning back into her chair. "After he shot me," She begins, her voice void of emotion. He reached into my wound so he could write on the wall in my blood."

"I was barely conscious, but I... I could feel his hand in there." Elle takes a deep breath, her eyes staying open as she said it all. She even tried not to blink, knowing that when she closed her eyes the memory would be right there in front of her as clear as day. 

"And sometimes it's like I can still feel it."

"Elle..." Spencer says, and she can see it in his eyes that he's a little confused. Confused as to why dhe's still all freaked out about it, why she's making a scene. Elle can't help but feel a little grateful about that, about how innocent he is even after all they've seen.

"He's dead." He continues, his voice warm. "You're... you're right here. You won."

_You won._

Those words seem so simple, and too anyone else it was just that; simple. To her, it's not, and she wants to shout it to the world and make everyone see, but not him. She doesn't want to be the one to slam the basebal bat into the already-fragile glass of innocence that Spencer is wearing as a shield. 

She smiles. "Then here's to winning."

 


End file.
